Automated teller machines (ATMs) have become well known and widely used. ATMs allow individuals twenty-four hour access to their bank accounts to conduct a number of transactions. One advantage to ATMs is their convenience to bank customers. Another advantage is the ability for banks to have transactions automated, which presents a cost savings to the bank.
One feature of ATMs is that they require a sufficient amount of information regarding a bank customer before allowing a transaction to be completed. The conventional way of providing such information to the ATM is by inserting a card that includes a magnetic strip containing customer information. Following that, the customer enters a personal identification number and gains access to their account(s). Some buildings include a vestibule housing the ATM. When the bank is closed, the vestibule is locked. A customer can temporarily unlock the door by inserting their ATM card in a reader near the door to the vestibule.
Maintaining customer account and access information confidential and secure has recently become problematic. Skimming readers have been developed that are placed over a card reader slot on an ATM or the card reader for entering the vestibule. These skimming readers read the magnetic strip on the card as a bank customer inserts their card for purposes of conducting a transaction with the bank. The skimming reader scans the magnetic strips and gathers the information regarding each individual and their account.
By using a hidden camera or a secretly located individual, the customer's access code (i.e., a manually entered PIN) can be gathered. That information combined with the information gathered by the skimming reader allows an unauthorized individual to gain unauthorized access to the individual's bank account or accounts and make illegal fund withdrawals.
There is a need for protecting against someone placing a skimming reader over the card reader associated with the ATM or the vestibule entry. This invention addresses that need.